


Revolution

by DarkrystalSky



Category: 07-Ghost, Bleach, CLAMP - Works, D.Gray-man, Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Hellsing, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Pandora Hearts, Soul Eater, Trinity Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Illustrated, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Retelling, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:59:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6331960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkrystalSky/pseuds/DarkrystalSky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/6325048/chapters/14491903%0A">ITALIAN VERSION</a>
</p>
<p>(Don't let the absurdly long list of fandoms discourage you, this is first of all a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction: you don't really need to know all the other works, although knowing them can make the reading more interesting)</p>
<p>You all know the story of Edward and Alphonse Elric, but how much would that change if the people they met during their travels weren't the same? If Travel trough parallel Dimensions was of common knowledge and the Multiverse at the centre of a millenary feud?</p>
<p>The story of Fullmetal Alchemist like you've never seen it before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Spokesman of God

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my Italian beta and co-writer GreenArcherAlchemist, English beta Nathan Van Doorn.  
> Thanks to MoonlitWaterSunnyRiver and phantomrose96 for their indirect support and the inspiration they gave me to write this story.

# Revolution

  


**Revolution** _noun_ rev·o·lu·tion \ˌre-və-ˈlü-shən\  
a. the usually violent attempt by many people to end a rule and start a new one  
b. a sudden, extreme, or complete change.  
c. the action of moving around something in a path that is similar to a circle  
  


## Chapter 1 - The Spokesman of God

 _When we've been there ten thousand years_  
_bright shining as the sun._  
_We've no less days to sing God's praise_  
_than when we've first begun._  
**John Newton - 'Amazing Grace'**

_ Reesembool village, southeast of Amestris, Shambala. 1910. ___

__

_The noise produced by the chalk on the floor was the only sound breaking the tense silence in which the room was wrapped. The only witnesses of what was going to happen were some collectible suits of armour and numerous open books scattered on the floor. Two children were finishing drawing a huge alchemical circle on the floor, in the centre of which there was a container inside of which was what looked like sand. A scientist probably would have recognized a large number and variety of chemical elements in the dust._

_"Perfect, it’s done," the older child said, putting the chalk down on the ground. He had blonde hair and golden eyes, and looked like he wasn’t older than ten years old. He glanced at the other boy, whose eyes were full of uneasiness. He had brown hair and eyes the same colour of the other child, he was at most a couple of years younger than the first kid. The two looked alike enough to be brothers. "Don’t worry, everything will be fine," the oldest assured him with a smile._

_The other nodded and smiled in turn._

_Outside it began to rain._

_Heedless of the showers, the two put both hands on the rim and began the alchemical transmutation. All those chemicals would be recombined into another completely different form, and their wish would be granted. The energy that shone from the circle was a beautiful ochre colour. The older boy smiled to himself, everything was going as planned._

_Suddenly, and seemingly for no reason, the energy increased in intensity and the light changed colour, shading the room in purple. The air around the two was filled with static electricity and some objects in the room began to fall to the ground and shatter. The blond boy looked around, disoriented, but a terrified scream made him turn towards the younger child._

_The alchemical energy was attacking him: what looked like black tentacles had surrounded him and were clinging to his right arm. The older boy started to get up and run to him, but something held him by the leg. He turned to break free, and he realized that holding him was the same entity that had attacked his brother. He turned back to the other child, desperately trying to get closer, while he was being dragged to the dark vortex that was forming in the middle of the room, over the elements container. The energy was literally eating him away, and his whole lower body had disappeared. Desperately he stretched out his hand toward his older brother, his eyes filled with terror. The other child attempted to reach the outstretched hand, despite the fact that his leg was rapidly breaking down, but when he thought he had grabbed him he found herself holding nothing._

_His brother was completely gone._

_The light grew stronger, and the child screamed with all the breath he had._

_Suddenly the light diminished in intensity and died. In the smoke-filled room there were overturned armour, torn and partially incinerated books, glass fragments of lamps and... the clothes of the youngest child, who had disappeared into the vortex of light._

_"It wasn’t supposed to go like that, damn it!" Shouted the blond boy, clutching his left leg which was amputated just above the knee and was losing a lot of blood._

_In the container at the centre of the room, instead of the chemical elements, something stirred. The child turned in that direction when he heard a muffled gasp._

_"... Mom?" He called with uncertainty._

_But the being that emerged from the plumes of smoke could not even be called human. She stared at him with only one eye, red as the blood that continued to flow from his wound._

_Even the last glimmer of hope of the child shattered, and he let out a cry of despair._

-

_ Istvàn City, southern border of Amestris, Shambala. 1914. _

The inhabitants of Istvàn were accustomed to foreigners: pilgrims and travellers passed through the modest town to cross the border between the State of Amestris and the desert, beyond which was the Xing Empire. They were used to seeing the strangest people walking the streets of the city, and now they weren’t astonished by anything anymore. The boy who had just made his entrance into the city, however, didn’t pass unnoticed, not so much for its looks, but because of his traveling companion. He, in fact, looked about 15 years old, he was quite short and wearing a long red coat with a hood. On his back he wore a curious symbol, a kind of cross with a snake enveloped around it, and topped by a winged crown. Under his coat he was dressed in black, but wore a pair of white gloves. His long blond hair was tied in a braid, and his gold-coloured eyes looked tired.

"You all right, brother?" His traveling companion asked.

The other person was wrapped up in a tall metal suit of armour at least six feet high topped with a helmet with a sharp horn and a long, white crest, that with each step produced a metallic clatter. Unlike his appearance, which had earned him all those surprised looks from the people of Istvàn, he had a very high-pitched voice, like that of a young boy.

"If I can’t drink something soon, I'll faint," said the other boy, gasping. Suddenly he looked up, seeing at the end of the road he was walking a wonderful stone fountain. 

"Water!" He exclaimed.

He ran to the fountain, relishing the fresh taste of the water, but when he was close enough he realized that the liquid that flowed wasn’t clear, but reddish, and gave off a pungent aroma of spices. Too surprised to do anything, the boy was still staring appalled at the contents of the fountain when someone clasped his left shoulder with their hand. 

"Drinking from the fountain is forbidden to children!" Exclaimed the man with olive skin to which the hand belonged.

The confused boy's gaze was eloquent enough.

Shortly after the three of them were at the drinks kiosk property of the man's, a few feet away from the fountain, the man put a glass full of juice in front of the boy.

"I'm sorry I mistook you for a child," he said, pointing to the boy. "Some of them challenge each other to drink from the fountain, but when it happens, because my kiosk is right here before it, parents are complaining to me." He raised his eyes on the armour. "By the way, who are you, his father?"

"To tell the truth, I’m his younger brother," the armour replied.

"You're the younger one?" The man said, his eyes widening. "Wow, aren’t you too little for traveling alone?"

"WHO DID YOU CALL A LITTLE BEAN INVISIBLE TO THE HUMAN EYE?!" the blond boy shouted, and he would have launched himself towards the owner of the kiosk if his brother had not blocked him from behind.

"You must excuse him..." the person in armour said, still holding the boy, who was kicking and trying to break free. "Istvàn must be a very rich city to afford such fountains" he added, looking around. Most of the inhabitants of the city had dark skin as the man who stood before them, unlike the people of Amestris that the two were used seeing, who instead had white skin.

"It's all thanks to Father Alexander Anderson" explained the owner of the kiosk. "Father Anderson manages to make a lot of miracles, and if it wasn’t for him, this city would have been forgotten by everyone."

The blond boy mumbled something unintelligible and sat back down, grabbing his glass of juice and taking a long sip.

"Honestly, miracles are the last thing that interests me," he mumbled, putting the empty glass on the table. "Here we are just wasting time. What do you say, Al, shall we keep going? "

The boy in armour nodded. When he got up, however, with his helmet he struck the shelf where there was a radio which had just started broadcasting a sermon by Father Anderson. The device fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

"Look what you’ve done!" Exclaimed furiously the owner. "That's what happens if you walk around dressed like that!"

"I'm so sorry," the boy apologized. "I’ll fix it straight away."

"Fix it...?" The man repeated, confused.

After pulling out a piece of chalk from one of the purses linked to the armour, the boy drew on the ground, around the destroyed radio, a perfect circle, and some lines and triangles inside it, then put his hands on the edge and, with a bluish glow and a puff of smoke, the radio was whole and functioning again.

"You can make miracles happen too?!" the manager of the kiosk exclaimed, amazed.

"We are only alchemists, sir," the boy corrected that with a smile, handing him the radio that had resumed broadcasting Anderson’s sermon.

"Alchemists, eh? I would have said you were street performers or something like that! "The man laughed, watching closely the radio that looked like new. "And what are alchemists like you doing in this frontier town?"

The boy in armour said nothing, merely turning his head towards his traveling companion, who shrugged.

"Let's say we're looking for something," he said, finally.

"Wow, what a huge suit of armour!" exclaimed a voice behind the two boys: coming from behind them was a young woman dressed in clerical robes, who looked at them with admiration and awe. Unlike the inhabitants of Istvàn, she had white skin and blue eyes like the sky after sunset: a few strands of red hair were sticking out of the dark veil that covered her head.

"Eh..." Al said, embarrassed, not knowing how to respond.

"Oh, Esther!" the owner of the kiosk greeted her, pulling a paper bag from under the counter and handing it to the young nun. "Here, there should be everything. I managed to get a special price! "

"May you be blessed," she said with a warm smile, holding out some bills to the man. Then she turned to the two boys. "Sorry, I didn’t want to embarrass you. You are welcome in the holy city of Istvàn! "

"Ah, thank you..."

"What brings you here? Are you pilgrims? Have you had any problems arriving from Amestris? "

"They say they are alchemists..." the man began to explain, repeating the boy’s words, but something else had caught the attention of the latter.

"Why do you say that? What kind of problems there should have been? "He asked.

The expression of the nun's face darkened.

"Those damned soldiers are stationed at the station and search all incomers: I don’t understand who or what they are looking for, but surely the people here aren’t happy." The two boys looked at each other for a split second, before Esther’s smile returned. "But don’t worry, Father Anderson has protected us until today, I'm sure nothing bad will happen to the people of this city as long as he will continue to guide us according to the word of God!"

"This Father Anderson seems to be a big shot..." the boy said softly. Neither the nun or the kiosk man seemed to hear or understand his words.

"Oh, I cannot believe how rude I am!" The woman exclaimed all at once. "My name is Esther Blanchett, I'm a novice nun!"

"Ah, I'm Edward" the boy said, smiling. Then he pointed to the giant armour at his side. "This is my younger brother, Alphonse."

"Are you really the oldest?" Esther said with surprise. Edward shot her a dirty look, the young nun chuckled. "You look like nice guys, how about coming with me to the church? We have rooms and a canteen for pilgrims and travellers. "

"Actually..." Alphonse began, but was interrupted by his brother.

"In fact I would be really interested talking with this Anderson! Is it possible to meet him? "

Esther beamed with joy.

"You’re interested in our church, then! Sure! I can take you to him even now! "

"I’ll leave them into your hands, then," the man nodded vigorously, waving at the three youngsters as they walked away. "It's nice to see Esther so lively," he added to himself. "You wouldn’t think that it’s been only a few months since her nervous breakdown..."

As they walked through the streets of Istvàn, Esther began to tell the two boys about Father Anderson.

"He arrived in Istvàn almost a year ago. Before that, he ran an orphanage in Aerugo, where he was responsible of the children who lost their parents during the last wars. He's a really nice person and he helped me a lot after my boyfriend, Dietrich, died in an accident at work two years ago. "Edward glanced at her compassionately, but she had a determined look in her eyes, fixed in front of her . "That's why I took vows: Father Anderson has promised me that if I will serve God with passion and perseverance, He will give me back Dietrich."

Edward raised an eyebrow, casting a sceptical look at Esther.

"Give you back... You mean back to life?"

Esther nodded vigorously.

"God can do anything, can’t He? Even you will believe once you see the miracles He allows Father to operate."

-

"And in the words of the disbeliever lies deception: 'What should I do to have eternal life?' he asks, thinking that eternal life can be obtained only through the sale of tangible property. And here I say to you: only through the grace of God ye are saved, not by yourself. Immortality is a gift from God, not something to buy. This is the word of God, go in peace. "

By pressing a button on his desk, Father Anderson turned off the microphone that broadcasted his voice to the citywide radio.

"A magnificent sermon, Father!" Exclaimed enthusiastically a woman with short straw-coloured hair, dressed like a priest, who was standing behind him. Beside her, a nun with black hair mostly covered by a veil and a pair of large round glasses, so thick they hid her face, nodded silently.

They heard two knocks at the door, which swung open letting Esther in.

"Good evening, Father Anderson!"

"Oh, Esther." The man smiled softly, standing up.

The young nun walked up to him.

"Two travellers just arrived, can we accommodate them in the monastery?"

The man nodded.

"The doors of our church are open to everyone."

Esther beamed.

"Ah, and they asked to meet you: they are right outside now."

"Father Anderson is very tired," interrupted the woman dressed as a priest, placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder. "They can come back tomorrow, after the public demonstration".

"No, Sister Heinkel" Anderson interrupted. "Let them in, it's always nice to meet new souls."

Esther nodded vigorously.

"Edward, Alphonse, come in!" She called.

The door opened again and the two appeared.

"Excuse me..." Alphonse said, embarrassed, bowing his head to pass through the small door.

"A suit of armour?!" Sister Heinkel took a step back, while Anderson merely raised an eyebrow.

Edward walked in after his brother, keeping his hands in the coat’s pockets and his back straight, and examined the much-mentioned Father Anderson: the man showed a bit more than sixty years, had short and dishevelled grey hair, ice-blue eyes and a couple of round glasses. He was towering tall and wore a modest clerical grey suit. A long reddish scar furrowed his left cheek, half hidden by a short and sparse beard. At his neck hung a heavy metal crucifix and on his left hand he wore a silver ring with a brilliant red gemstone. He looked like a severe, but wise, person.

"Welcome to Istvàn, sons" he said. "May God accompany you on your journey."

"Thanks..." Alphonse began, but was immediately interrupted by Edward.

"Can you really perform miracles?" He asked him point blank.

Anderson let out a long sigh.

"True faith does not require evidence, but as I understand it you are alchemists, scientists, right?"

"Yeah, I’m hard-headed, I can only believe what I can see with my own two eyes," Edward said with a smirk of defiance.

Anderson nodded.

"Come tomorrow at noon at the square in front of the church: I will show what God is capable of through me."

"Though you just said that faith does not need evidence, you seems very inclined to do these demonstrations" Edward said with a sneer. "In town, it’s all you can hear about". 

Anderson smiled.

"The miracles that God offers us act as a support to our faith, give us confidence and hope, and it is everything Istvàn needed to flourish."

Edward nodded.

"Don’t you also happen to resurrect the dead, eh?" He added with heavy sarcasm.

"Edward!" Esther interrupted, blushing with embarrassment. "Forgive me, Father. I told him about Dietrich and... "

"Don’t worry, child," Anderson assured her, then turned back to Edward. "The grace of God sometimes allows me to give back to their loved ones people whose time to be reunited with God has been ominously anticipated. Miss Laura Vitez and the young Peter are among them...” Edward's expression changed in a flash in a totally surprised one.

"No, wait, you've already resurrected someone?"

"God has performed the act, I'm just his spokesman" corrected Anderson. "But, yes, the miracle has already happened."

Edward gasped for a few seconds before composing himself.

"And where are these people? Can I talk to them? "

"They left on pilgrimage a few days after being recalled on this earth," the man told him. "Although at the behest of God, the soul was still torn away from the kingdom of heaven, and suffered a deep trauma. Prayers heals the wounds of the spirit, but to be sincere you must move away from earthly temptations, and thus the people you love, as long as the wounds won’t be healed. Only God knows how much time is required for each person to heal. "

Edward grimaced.

"I kind of expected this answer," he muttered through his teeth.

"Enough," interjected sister Heinkel. "You’re harassing Father Anderson with your speeches: what did you come to Istvàn for?"

Edward scratched his head, sighing.

"Simple curiosity. Well, it's not every day that someone raises the dead, right? "

"The rumour spread?" The woman asked.

"Only through the cities around here, but after a few more miracles even Central City will know."

"By the way, we have heard that you have problems with the army" Al intervened.

Sister Heinkel crossed her arms, puffing.

"Those stupid military men don’t approve that this city remained independent of Amestris, we are too close to Aerugo for them to leave us alone."

Anderson scratched his beard, nodding gravely.

"They didn’t give you trouble when you arrived in town, right?"

"Ah, no, we walked here from the East".

"Walked?!" Esther exclaimed. "You must be exhausted! Let me take you to your accommodation! "The girl stepped between them and the priest, pushing them towards the door.

"Ah, it's not a bad idea actually. It's been too long since I last slept in a bed... "Edward chuckled nervously.

"For whatever you may need, don’t hesitate to ask" Anderson waved at them.

The three wished him good night and walked away along the corridors of the building connected to the church.

"Sorry about that," said Esther when they were far enough. "Sister Heinkel does not really trust strangers, she would continue to question you until tomorrow morning and I don’t want your first impression of our church to be so saturated with distrust... and I'm talking too much, I beg you, stop me if you’re getting tired" .

Edward laughed.

"Relax, indeed, thank you: I didn’t even know how to get myself out of that situation."

The room where Esther took them was frugal but clean, with two beds, two chairs, a small table on which rested a bible and a window overlooking the cemetery contiguous to the church. When Esther left the boys alone, Edward slumped face down on the mattress, not bothering to take off clothes or shoes.

"What do you think?" Asked Al, looking out the window. He could see Esther, she had walked in front of one of the tombs, probably that of her boyfriend.

"Either Father Anderson is the greatest con artist in existence, or someone higher is deceiving him." He rolled on his back, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Whatever you do, the dead cannot come back to life..."

-

Anderson had just retired to his room, severe and frugal as all rooms of the building, after celebrating the evening Mass, and it was about to have his dinner sent from the kitchen, when a rapid movement betrayed he was not alone. The balcony door was open and a light breeze moved the white tents, among which was a figure apparently human. 

Seeing her, Anderson fell to his knees.

"Emissary of the Lord" Anderson smiled, clasping his hands in prayer. "What commands God Almighty?"

On the ruby red lips of the Emissary a kind smile appeared.

-

"The soul is immortal and through prayer immortality is transmitted to the flesh." Edward read a fragment from the holy book, before dropping it back on the bedside table with a grimace. "What nonsense!"

"We cannot help it if the people of this city want to believe it, though," Al tried to say, before noticing something odd outside the window. Although it was almost time for dinner, Esther was still in front of the grave when Father Anderson raced in to her to tell her something that Al could not hear because of the distance. The girl put her hands to her face and probably burst into tears, because the priest hugged her and held her to his chest, before taking her back to the church. "That man, Father Anderson, I don’t think he’s a bad person," concluded the boy in armour.

"I don’t know... We'll see tomorrow what he is capable of." His brother took off his shoes and threw them poorly under the bed.

"Brother, don’t you want to go to the canteen to eat something?"

"I'm not hungry," the boy said, and wrapped himself in the coarse blankets. "Good night, Al."

"Good night," Al sighed, sitting down on the ground.

The night fell silently on the city of Istvàn.


	2. The One who Challenged the Sun

## Chapter 2 - The one who challenged the Sun

_Nothing's gonna keep you down_  
_Even if it's killing you_  
_Because you know the truth_  
_Listen up listen up_  
_There's a devil in the church  
_**Sixx A.M. - ‘This is Gonna Hurt’**

The square was packed with festive and smiling people, as if it was a day of celebration. The local radio announced in the morning that Father Anderson would perform miracles in front of the church and the citizens had immediately closed shop and had gone in mass in front of the churchyard. Ed and Al stood in the crowd, more intrigued than intimidated by the two strange wanderers: a pair of children had even started to climb on Al’s armor, before their parents called them back. Not that Alphonse had disliked their company.

"Al, look," the older brother said, mentioning some figures on board the square: they were soldiers of Amestris, wearing a black variation of the military uniform. You could count half a dozen of them, positioned around the square, and seemingly confused by the strange massive group of people. "In the worst case..." he began, but was interrupted by an explosion of jubilant voices from the crowd around them: Father Anderson had walked into the churchyard and was climbing on a wooden stage, accompanied by the two nuns of the night before and Esther, who, however, was no longer wearing clerical robes but a simple and elegant white dress. Two men carried on stage, before the four, a large, heavy wooden box, before the priest made a sign with his hand to silence the crowd.

"What is he doing?" Asks Edward, who could not clearly see the stage because of the crowd.

The nun with blacks hair and glasses handed out to Anderson a transparent and empty glass. The man took it and, with a brief flash of red light and a puff of smoke, it was filled with a red liquid. The crowd greeted the act with a thunderous applause, while Anderson went and created a giant statue out of a small block of wood. Even in this case, the miracle was accompanied by reddish flashes.

"Did you see that?" Al said.

Edward nodded.

"It’s undoubtedly alchemy, even if does not follow the principle of equivalent exchange".

Suddenly the crowd fell silent again, Esther had handed to Father Anderson a microphone, which made his voice boom across the plaza.

"Dear faithful, an Emissary of our Lord appeared again before me bringing the good news: today he will allow his disciple to walk again among us!"

"Hey, hey! Are you kidding me? Is he going to do it now? " Edward exclaimed, then tried to climb on the armor, despite the protests of his younger brother, the better to see the stage. From the elevated position he could finally see the wooden case for what it was: a coffin. "Are you kidding me...?" The boy repeated, in equal measure surprised, horrified and fascinated.

Father Anderson raised his hands to the sky and began to sing a litany, soon the people of the crowd also joined, who with arms extended in a way similar to the priest, who with his hands joined in prayer. Thick smoke that smelled of incense spread rapidly in the square, greatly reducing visibility, but failing to completely mask the reddish flashes coming from the wood. Slowly, the smoke cleared and when Father Anderson was visible again, gestured with his hands to stop the litany. Another gesture and two men opened the sealed coffin. Edward held his breath, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest: the wooden roof flew off and Edward saw Esther bringing her hands to the face and jumping to the coffin with a joyful smile. A human figure sat up, looking around bewildered, and she threw her arms around him.

"He did it...?" Muttered Al.

Edward inhaled sharply: no, there was definitely something wrong. Father Anderson helped the boy to his feet: he had brown hair that fell messily on his face, and was simply wearing a white shirt with dark pants. Shyly, the boy raised his hand to greet the crowd, which exploded into a hubbub of exultation and applause.

"I want to see clearly" Edward announced, while the five retreated inside the church. He came down from the his brother’s shoulders and began to stride in that direction. "Come with me, Al!"

After a moment of daze, the armor followed closely the boy, the two came close to the church, but instead of heading towards the main entrance of the building, turned around it until they found one of the side entrances. The small wooden door took them into a corridor that went in two different directions.

"Let’s split up ways here, let's quickly find Anderson... or that boy" suggested Edward, before racing away down the hall.

"Why such a hurry?" Al sighed, walking in the opposite direction.

-

Anderson sank into the armchair in his office. From the window he could see the square that was emptying.

"I saw those guys in the crowd," he said to the nun with black hair and glasses, which at the moment was the only one in the room with him. "I count to have them among our followers very soon."

"I'm not so sure," Sister Heinkel began suddenly, bursting into the room. "I just got confirmation from one of my associates: I was right not to trust the kid."

Anderson stood up.

"What do you mean?"

"Hair and eyes the color of gold, a blood red coat, travels along with an armored person... The description fits perfectly with that of..." She handed the priest a folded newspaper that she had brought with her . The date went back a few weeks before. Reading, Father Anderson’s face twisted into an expression of pure hatred, before the man strongly slammed the newspaper on their desk.

"Where are they now?" He hissed angrily.

"They were seen infiltrating inside the church a few minutes ago." Heinkel looked at the priest. "What are your orders, sir? Do we make them disappear? "

"No, if we did so, we would have the damn army at the gates in no time." Anderson smiled, but, unlike the previous ones, this smile was sinister and maniacal. "They’ve never been here," he said slowly.

Heinkel nodded, then pulled a gun from under her coat and left the room.

"Yumiko" the priest called. The nun with black hair and glasses looked up. "Come with me, we’ve got unbelievers to bring before God."

The nun said nothing, but nodded in turn.

-

Edward came out in the main nave of the gigantic church. It seemed to be totally empty, except for a solitary figure who was cleaning compulsively the altar with a rugged cloth. To Edward it was enough to see a flash of red hair to identify Esther, still in civilian clothes, and with an ecstatic smile on her face. With a cough he caught the girl’s attention, who turned and smiled even more brightly when she recognized him.

"You see? Father Anderson is really the spokesman of God! My hard work and dedication were rewarded at last! " she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Edward shrugged.

"I'm not sure, it could very well have been a very complex hoax ".

She clenched her fists and looked furiously at Edward.

"He resurrected Dietrich, you saw it too! Would you be able to do such a thing ?! "

Ed made a skeptical frown. He sighed and from an inner pocket of the coat, he took out a worn notebook and opened it to a page in which was inserted a cloth sign as he began to read.

"35 liters of water, 20 pounds of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kg of lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine , 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon... plus another 15 items in small quantities, "he concluded, closing the notebook, under the Esther’s confused look. "A human adult body is composed of the elements that I have just mentioned to you, but despite our knowledge no one has yet been able to make a human transmutation. Something is still missing, and certainly  it’s not by praying and waiting that we’ll to get to the truth, but  _searching_  . For an alchemist, and then a scientist, like me, it is impossible to believe such an uncertain thing as the existence of God... "

"Yours is simply blasphemy!" She accused Esther

"... And it is ironic that we are the ones that are closer to the power of a God" And he went on, approaching the altar, behind which stood a huge statue of God sitting on a throne holding a small sun. "Even the sun that your God holds is nothing but a mass of hot gas. The only drawback is that if you get too close you risk to be scorched... "he concluded bitterly, under Esther’s glare.

-

Al walked the long corridors without meeting a soul: there seemed to be no one in the sacred building. He could not help but feel out of place, but finally, from a half-open door, he heard a voice.

"... pity on me, keep me with the power that you have been given, so that I triumph ~~s~~ , confusing my enemies, reinvigorating my strength..." Somebody was praying, but from the tone of their voice they seemed more annoyed than anything else. "What nonsense!" The voice finally exclaimed, while Al cautiously opened the door and peeked into what looked like a small chapel. In that moment, a booklet hit the wall a few inches from the boy's head, who winced and turned in the direction from which the booklet was launched. Clear and big brown eyes looked him over with curiosity.

"Dietrich!" Al recognized the boy.

The young man whistled with admiration, then smiled and walked over towards Al.

"You're gigantic you, where the hell have you come from?" The boy asked with an amused tone. Al noticed that the boy was walking barefoot on the cold stone floor of the chapel. Moving with light footsteps around Al, Dietrich examined the details of his armor. "That Flamel Cross on your shoulder... You're an alchemist, right?" He asked, pointing at the symbol painted in red on the armor, the same symbol that Ed wore on his coat. "Alchemy is not practiced in Istvàn, especially not at church. What are you doing here? "

Instead of answering, and be diverted, Alphonse posed in turn a question.

"Were you really brought back to life?"

The boy shrugged and fell back on one of the chapel benches.

"I think so. In short, I was told that I was dead, but now I'm here. I'm still trying to make sense of that. "

"What do you remember of your death?" Alphonse insisted.

"Very little. I know I was maneuvering a car in the workshop, I was alone, and then... Then I remember a great light... An ethereal music... After that, I was on the stage outside the church. " Dietrich ran a hand through his hair and laughed, embarrassed. "What a ridiculous story, right? I understand if you don’t believe... "

"Apparently, you don’t believe it either" Alphonse interrupted him. "Is that what they told you to say?"

After a few seconds, during which the boy looked at Al with an appalled expression,  on Dietrich’s face a hostile smile appeared, eyes narrowed and fixed on the armor.

"Oh?" he simply said, with an amused tone, but before either of them could say anything else, a creak and the sharp sound of a gun that was loaded was heard. Sister Heinkel appeared behind Al. In her hand she was holding a pistol, pointed at the crack where the helmet was connected to the rest of the armor.

"Dietrich, stay back" the woman said, her hate-filled gaze fixed on Alphonse.

The boy, whose haunting expression had faded away like smoke, stepped back in surprise.

"Si-sister Heinkel?" Al called, confused. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk to Dietrich before he left for his pilgrimage, I was..."

"Don’t play dumb, we know who you are," Sister Heinkel interrupted. "Father Anderson does not tolerate the presence of the military in his city, especially if they are State Alchemists. You disbelievers are the scourge against which Father Anderson is fighting his crusade. You made a big mistake by coming to Istvàn. Now you must die. "

"Wait!" Al tried to say.

"Don’t fear, your brother will catch up on you very soon."

-

Edward and Esther heard distinctly the sound of a gunshot coming from one of the chapels behind the apse of the church.

"What was that?" the girl exclaimed, frightened.

"Al!" Edward called immediately, running toward the direction of the sound, which seemed to have come from a door not far from the altar. The door was locked but the boy broke through the wood with a kick and rushed into the adjoining chapel, entering the room on the opposite side of the door Alphonse had entered from. Esther followed him close behind.

"Dietrich!" the girl exclaimed, running to the young man who had his back on them.

Edward instead opened his eyes wide seeing Al body, flat on the ground, with his helmet blown off from the opposite side of the room, at Edward’s very feet. Sister Heinkel still held the smoking gun in her hand. She pointed it against Edward and with her free hand gestured towards Esther and Dietrich, who were locked in an embrace.

"Esther, Dietrich, go away! I'll take care of this heretic. "

She didn’t notice that behind her, Al’s body was rising up from the ground.

"What a fright" the armor without helmet exclaimed.

Heinkel turned and remained speechless: the armor was empty, there was no one inside! Yet he spoke and moved as if nothing happened.

"You are..." Dietrich began, but was interrupted by a terrified cry from Esther at the unnatural sight that appeared before her.

Taking advantage of the general chaos, Edward picked the helmet up, holding firmly the plume,  with force he whirled it and threw it on the woman's head, which fell to the ground unconscious.

"Strike!" Edward exulted.

"My head!" Al exclaimed with a ~~n~~ hurt tone, catching the helmet that had been thrown into the air.

With a thud, Esther fainted and slipped to the ground. Dietrich picked up the girl’s body and, without deigning the two boys another look, he ran out of the door through which Alphonse had entered through.

"What a mess..." Al sighed, putting the helmet back on. "What do we do, brother?"

Ed stepped over the woman lying on the ground, walking next to Alphonse in front of the door ajar.

"I’d say that we have little choice."

The two brothers started walking down the corridor again and sauntered blindly until, with a reddish glow, a door appeared out of thin air on their left. Edward smiled.

"An invitation to enter..." he grinned, throwing the door open, which opened onto a staircase leading down underground. The steps stopped in front of another door, which led to a huge underground crypt, whose ceiling was supported by four rows of columns. Across the room there was a raised stage where Father Anderson and the nun with black hair and glasses stood. The priest grinned and by simply raising his hands he closed the door through which the two boys had entered: the wall became smooth as if there had never been an entrance. Edward didn’t miss the glow of the stone that the man wore on his finger.

"You were offered accommodation and hospitality, the possibility  to embrace our church and leave behind your sins," he declared. "And how did you repay all this? By lying and deceiving, as it befits you filthy worms, army dogs. "

"Listen to who's talking!" Said Ed. "Aren’t you doing the same thing? Aren’t you fooling the Istvàn people?! Your miracles are nothing but alchemical transmutations! "

Anderson gritted his teeth, furious.

"My power comes from God Almighty! No alchemist can do what has been granted to me! Your art is subject to the Law of Equivalent Exchange, is not it? "

"All right, I'll give you that, but I have another theory." Edward pointed to the ring that the man wore on his finger. "There is a way around this law, although until now it has remained a legend: the Philosopher's Stone. It's that ring, isn’t it?" Edward's eyes were shining with wonder. "Finally…"

Unexpectedly, Anderson burst into a maniacal laugh.

"Even if that was the case, this ring is a gift from God’s Emissary, and it is through this sacred object that I can ensure His will." With a gesture from the man, the room’s floor turned into sand, immediately after Anderson jumped down the stage, standing before the two alchemists. He was holding two short flat swords that, on closer examination, proved to be bayonets. "My name is Alexander Anderson, spokesman for the Word of God, former knight of Aerugo’s King’s army, and today I will be your executioner. May God have mercy on you. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. We, who are just dust, will return to dust. " While reciting these words like a mantra, he had moved their swords to form a cross in front of him. "Amen," he concluded, and lunged at Edward, who barely had time to crouch to avoid the blades that would otherwise cleanly removed the head from his neck, but barely cut a lock of the boy's hair .

"Wow, all right!" Edward exclaimed. "A difficult opponent to deal with bare hands," he said sardonically.

The boy clapped his palms together and laid them on the ground. Without using any alchemical circle, bluish flashes of energy unleashed from the sand, from which Ed took out a long spear which he used to repel the next attack from the priest. Anderson was astonished: he had never seen anyone make alchemical transmutations simply clapping their hands, but didn’t let himself be distressed by this revelation. With a flash of red light, one of his swords turned into a whirlwind of sharp metal headed towards the boy, but it was stopped by a stone wall that formed halfway. Anderson turned his head and saw that the second alchemist, the guy in armor, had managed to draw an alchemical circle on the stone of one of the columns. Angrily, Anderson released the grip of what was now an aberration of metal and pulled out a new sword from under his coat, launching himself this time against Alphonse.

"Don’t you dare..." Edward hissed, running after the man. His goal was to topple him using the handle of his spear. But Anderson apparently expected this kind of move, because with a clever movement cut  the transmuted weapon into three pieces. Edward stared dumbfounded at the useless piece of metal that was left in his hands.

"It’s not you who owns a prodigious weapon, State Alchemist!" Anderson spat contemptuously, dropping both swords on Edward with a scissors cut.

"Brother!" Alphonse cried, alarmed.

A metallic clang echoed in the crypt, and once again Anderson gasped in surprise: Edward had stopped the swords simply placing his right arm in the way. The reddish light that lit up the ring was the only warning before several glass spades sprouted from the sand, Edward shot away, but one of them managed to tear apart the fabric on the left leg. However, not a single drop of blood was spilled.

"Your arm, your leg..." Anderson stared at the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Observe carefully, Anderson..." Ed grabbed his torn coat and pulled it to tear it completely: the right arm of the boy, as well as his left leg, wasn’t made of flesh and blood, but completely of metal. "This is what happens when you cross into sacred ground where men are not allowed, the body of those who have attempted human transmutation." He dropped his coat. "This is the body of a sinner. Careful, Anderson, playing God you could find yourself like me, "concluded the boy.

"A mechanical prostheses, automail" Anderson muttered. "You... dared to violate the forbidden taboo of alchemy! And you were taken two limbs away!” Edward returned Anderson’s gaze with determination. "That's why you are saddled with that name " the man continued, looking at the boy with contempt. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

The silence that followed was broken by the sound of an explosion, as the wall behind which the staircase from which they had descended the boys was reduced to dust, letting into the crypt a small handful of priests armed with rifles and guns, led by Sister Heinkel.

"Father Anderson!" Called the woman as she saw the armed priest and the conditions of the battlefield.

The man quickly withdrew on the raised platform. He walked past the nun with black hair and glasses, who was wielding a katana and stood in position, ready to assault Ed and Al. The priests surrounded the boys forming a semicircle between them and the exit. Anderson grinned, pleased.

"Ashes to Ashes" he said, before shouting: "Fire!"

A dense hail of shots set off in the boys’ direction.


	3. The Body of a Sinner

## Chapter 3 - The body of a sinner

_Anger, surprise, the part, the actor._  
Doctor, which symptoms does happiness have?   
Evolution, the sky’s in a prison,   
this is not a drill.   
**Lorenzo 'Jovanotti' Cherubini - 'I trust you"**

Honestly, Edward and Alphonse were not quite sure what had just happened: the ranks of armed priests who had come between them and the entrance was on the ground, weakened by several wounds, mostly to the legs, where a barrage of bullets had hit them.

"Wh-what does this mean?" Anderson said, dumbstruck.

He turned in the direction from which the shots were fired and met the eyes of the nun with glasses, who was now wielding a giant Gatling Gun that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. She picked it up and slammed it in the man’s face, knocking him out cold. The young woman jumped off the raised platform and strode toward the two boys.

"In short!" She snapped, tearing the veil off from her head and tossing it to the ground. "I don’t ask much, but a little discretion?!" She removed his glasses and threw them together with the veil. "It’s your fault I had to burn my cover, two whole months of work..."

"Hello, Oriel..." Al said, sheepishly.

Having removed the veil and glasses, the girl took a red ribbon from her pocket and tied it in her hair, bright dark eyes with a peculiar violet tinge peering around.

"You're not Yumiko!" the wounded Sister Heinkel exclaimed from the ground, watching the scene with confusion.

"I’m so sorry, Heinkel" the girl regretfully said. “The real Yumiko Takagi never left Aerugo."

"Then who the hell are you ?!"

"Oriel Eckhart, Dancer Alchemist" the girl introduced herself, not without a touch of pride in her voice.

"Another State Alchemist..." Anderson's voice, full of anger, boomed in the crypt.

" _Scheiße_ , I thought he was out!" the girl exclaimed, turning around.

"Damn worms, false, subtle. God will not forgive your insolence, snakes with poisoned tongues! " The man growled, holding his broken and bleeding nose as he stood up. With a flash from the Stone, the wounds disappeared from his face and he was on his feet again ready to fight. "All State Alchemists have to die!" He shouted. He grabbed a handful of sand and transmuted it into a bayonet, that he hurled towards the three alchemists.

Edward clapped his hands immediately and created a wall with sand to protect himself, his brother and the girl. Anderson took another handful of sand, turned it again into a bayonet, and threw this one again against the wall of sand, trying to break it, and continued to do so, riddling the three alchemists’ shelter.

"I can’t believe you were trying to pass as a nun!" Exclaimed Edward. "You could at least tell us when you sent that telegram!"

"A telegram has a limited number of words, Ed! Wasting them to give you useless information would be stupid.” The girl replied, ripping the sleeve of her dress, under which she wore, around her forearm, a complex silver armlet with rotating circular sections. "I've already had enough trouble to get it to you, as you travel the country like a madman, be grateful that I have provided you an interesting track, at least!" With a somersault, the girl rolled out of the cover and knelt, facing Anderson: the rings of the bracelet had all fit together to form an alchemical circle, which lit with bluish flashes and allowed the girl to transmute a cannon from the floor, that shot to the raised stage, destroying it. "I suggest a retreat!" She then exclaimed standing up.

"I agree," the two brothers cried in unison, standing up in turn and heading toward the opening in the wall.

"Not that easy!" Sister Heinkel and some men had managed to get to their feet and stood in front of the only exit. However, the three teenagers ran towards one of the side walls, leaving the priests stunned. Edward clapped his hands and placed them on the wall to instantly transmute a gate with clappers in the form of an animal skull, which he opened up on a corridor into which the three of them disappeared into the maze of underground corridors.

-

The sun had just set on Istvàn when the three of them finally managed to hide from the eyes of curious citizens and armed priests who were looking for them: the alley where they had taken refuge had been camouflaged by walls created with alchemy and finally the three could rest.

Oriel arranged the circles of her bracelet in a different way, before laying her hand on the black, dirty and torn dress and transmuted it into a pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt that allowed her a greater freedom of movement. Al gave her a thumbs-up sign of approval.

"What do we do now?" The boy in the armor asked then.

"We wait for daybreak, then we try to get in touch with the troops stationed in Istvàn" Edward said. "Between the Philosopher's Stone and the handful of soldiers, we cannot afford to face them again."

"Absolutely not," interrupted Oriel sharply. Edward shot her a dirty look. "To involve the army right now is a very bad idea" the girl explained. "The hostility of the military has already ailing civilians, we risk stirring up unnecessary confrontations!"

Edward mumbled something unintelligible, but didn’t reply.

"Why were you sent to Istvàn, and undercover furthermore?" He asked instead.

"Colonel wanted to know who was at the helm of this city and if it posed a danger," Oriel told them. "We're talking about a religious cult, and given the bad precedent with Ishbal, Amestris doesn’t want to have problems. Anderson looked like a normal person, at first, despite his hatred for the military. Then, four weeks ago, he received the ring, by an ‘Emissary of God,’ or so he said, and began to perform miracles... "

"And that's when you decided to send the telegram" Al concluded, but she shook her head.

"No, for that I had to wait.  You have seen the demonstration this morning: this is the third time that Anderson brings someone back from the dead... "

"Have you met the other two?" Ed asked, with sudden interest.

Oriel nodded.

"Briefly, and in passing: after returning to life, the revived are accompanied in a room prepared for them, and here are visited Emissary. It orders them to retreat in prayer for three days and three nights, after which they must make a pilgrimage trip to a saint city in Aerugo, until their souls are healed... but none of them has returned yet. You understand that I don’t trust the roast, but... "

"You don’t trust what?"

"The roast. I mean, I have not had a chance to investigate further. The thing is that when Anderson revives someone, the power of the ring does not fire up: there is no transmutation, only that strange smoke... "

"It's a hoax, as I thought... But how can he?"

"Though, Edward..." Oriel began, rocking on her heels, uncertain. "I'm not convinced at all that the Father is the one who orchestrates this hoax: his faith makes him blind. If we could show him the truth, we could avoid unnecessary... "

She was interrupted by Anderson's voice coming from numerous speakers throughout the city which was probably also heard several kilometers away from the town.

"Citizens, today three military infidels have tried to kill me. They are still in the city and are very dangerous, so, until their arrest and confinement, I ask you not to leave your homes for any reason." The announcement continued with the description of the three alchemists.

"You were saying?" Edward said, sarcastically. The girl glared at him. "That damned bespectacled priest knows very well that this way the faithful will not think twice about coming to look for us for quite a lynching" continued gritting his teeth. "You two go hide, I have a plan," he added, with a smirk.

Oriel looked at him, then shrugged with a sigh.

"Do as you please, we’ll come to rescue you when you're in deep shit."

"Thank you for the confidence," the boy muttered.

The three split ways. None of them realized that two human figures, a woman and a really fat man, were spying on them, perched on an iron structure that connected the two palaces.

When the citizens of Istvàn arrived, armed with brooms, shovels, pans and picks, they found Edward and Alphonse standing in the middle of a crossroads waiting for them.

"Listen to me: the miracles that man performs are nothing but alchemy!" Ed announced, trying to resolve the situation diplomatically.

"Liar!" A voice cried. The crowd split in two to let Esther trough. "The alchemists are the unbelievers who seek to rise above God, but they are bound to fall!"

"Are those your words or Father Anderson’s?" Asked Ed.

"My words just tell the truth: no alchemist will ever be able to match the power of God. This is demonstrated by the fact that my Dietrich came back to me."

"And he also told you that soon he will leave you to make a long pilgrimage, isn’t that it?" He insisted. "Esther, are you really sure that that person is your boyfriend?"

The girl’s answer was drowned by the shouts of the crowd, who began to shake the improvised weapons in the direction of the Elric brothers, but Edward didn’t miss her confused look. He was barely able to see Esther as she turned and walked away in a hurry, when suddenly the ground began to shake. A giant statue, apparently formed by trees and shrubs twisted together, walked with heavy steps towards the two alchemists. Edward's eyes widened, surprised and terrified at the same time. Transmuting organic material was very difficult, very expensive and very dangerous. Ed didn’t have time to shout a warning, or to react: a giant fist came down on Al’s armor , reducing it to a pile of scrap, while the second hand grabbed the boy and imprisoned him in its giant fist. The crowd cheered at the miraculous appearance, while the statue brought Edward back to the church.

-

Esther returned to her room, seemingly calm but really very upset: she wasn’t able to get Edward’s words out of her head. Since that very morning, in the few moments that she was able to be together with Dietrich, before Anderson bought him to the room where he would have spent three days in prayer, she had noticed something strange in her boyfriend’s behavior, especially in the way he looked at her. Small details that had been overlooked in the euphoria of the moment, but that the fall of night and the recent disturbing events, the attack from the two alchemists towards Father Anderson, the betrayal of Yumiko, had somehow put them in a new light. With a long sigh, Esther clenched her fists, straightened her dress and opened the wooden chest at the feet of  the bed.

A few minutes later, the girl was walking along the stone corridor that went to the room where Dietrich was supposed to be in prayer. Esther cautiously opened the wooden door and peered inside: it looked vacant.

"Esther?" It was not. Esther turned, nerves on edge. Maybe she had imagined it, but for a moment she seemed to see in the corner of her eye a few red sparks before focusing on the slim figure of her boyfriend. "You shouldn’t be here," he said with a sweet smile, like the one she remembered. The same smile he had when she came home with wounds which she didn’t want to talk about, or when making her the sandwiches with peanut butter that she loved so much. Similar, but painfully different.

"Dietrich" she began, trying to keep her voice steady. "Do you remember how we met?"

Silence, a silence too tight to be comforting.

"Why such a question?" He laughed lightly, but didn’t answer.

Esther swallowed: in the best circumstances it would only make a fool out of her, and she didn’t even want to think about the worst.

"I was just a child of the resistance, without parents, without hope, without a future," she spoke up. "A weapon driven by hatred towards people I didn’t even know. And when they burned my house, you took me in, even though I was your enemy, even if you didn’t know anything about me, but... "Esther thanked the gloomy air the chapel was surrounded by, and she hoped that the tears streaming down her face seemed of pain, and not anger. "And you promised me you would always be on my side."

As she spoke, Dietrich hadn’t taken his eyes off her face, a cold, vaguely lost expression on his face, as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. Then that expression that didn’t belong to Dietrich turned into the usual smile of the boy who she loved so much and that she had managed to capture in a photograph that she kept on the nightstand beside her bed.

"It’s still valid, Esther. That promise will last  forever, "he said, wiping away the tears from her face with a cold hand.

Esther sobbed, but not with emotion: slowly, she held up the only weapon she had, a crossbow that Sister Heinkel had given her for any emergency, and that until that day she had kept hidden in her room, and pointed it at Dietrich.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice broken. Dietrich froze. "Who are you really? I met Dietrich in times of peace, what I told you it never happened. And no one, not even Dietrich knew that once I was in the Aerugo Resistance. "

Dietrich's hand, still brushing her cheek, fell slowly down his side. The boy looked down, his shoulders hunched.

"I'm sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you," he began. "My memory is not yet fully in focus since I came back," he murmured, his head sunk between his shoulders. "This is why I have been trying to avoid you..." He lifted his gaze to meet the girl’s. "It is I who doesn’t know who you are: I... I don’t remember you." For Esther it felt like being stabbed in the heart. "You tell me that you were my girlfriend, but I don’t remember" Dietrich continued, lowering his eyes again. "I don’t remember the times we spent together, I don’t remember anything about you..." He closed his eyes and squeezed his eyelids. "I don’t remember what it meant to love you."

The crossbow in Esther's hand shook. She didn’t know what to think. When the boy took a tentative step towards her, Esther found herself backing away.

"You don’t believe me," he noted with an expression so sad it was heartbreaking.

Esther shook her head.

"I want to believe, I desperately want to believe you, Dietrich, but..."

"I understand," he interrupted her, placing a finger on her lips. "Then let me prove it. Come with me".

-

Anderson awoke from a restless sleep haunted by a huge red snake wrapped around a tree loaded with golden fruit. The snake arched his back and hissed, teeth bared. His eyes open, there stood a very charming dark haired woman wearing a white dress covering her from throat to toe.

"Divine Emissary!" Anderson exclaimed, getting up out of bed and kneeling before the woman. "What news?"

The Emissary’s red lips curved in a sweet smile, but her violet eyes were narrowed to slits. When Anderson raised his head again, the woman had disappeared.

-

Dietrich opened the door of a dark room, barely illuminating the walls with the light of the candle in his hand. Esther followed him, the crossbow in her hand, still not pointed at the boy. Something moved with a swish across the room, and the girl stopped on her tracks. Nonchalantly, Dietrich slipped behind her, standing between the girl and the door.

"What are you doing?" She said, tightening the grip on her weapon.

Dietrich drew a long sigh, scratching his head with the hand that wasn’t holding the candle.

"I knew it was a very bad idea," he commented with an annoyed tone. "But no! That whore was like, 'Nooo, the girl can be useful!' Fuck off with the girl, I say! "

Esther stared at the boy, confused.

"I don’t understand... what are you talking about? You said you'd shown me a proof... "

The boy put his hand on her shoulder.

"All lies," he whispered softly in her ear, before backing away, smiling. Esther realized too late that with that swift movement he had taken away her crossbow.

"You're not Dietrich..."

The boy raised his arms to the sky, launching the crossbow on the floor behind him, which shattered into a thousand fragments.

"Nice one! You guessed right! We have a winner! "He exclaimed with an idiotic grin on his face, then twirled his torso and sent the girl to the ground with a powerful side kick.

Esther’s back collided against the room’s wall. The swishing noise from before came back, dangerously close. The guy who was not Dietrich walked to the back of the room, and the dim light of the candle showed a stubby and ungainly shape: it was a bald fat man.

"Are you hungry, Gluttony?" the boy grinned. "Of course you are, you’re always hungry... I brought you a snack."

"I really can eat it?" the fat man asked. He looked at Esther with eyes blank but full of yearning, saliva dripping from his mouth.

The face of the boy who was not Dietrich deformed into a wicked grin, as he headed for the room’s door and opened it.

"Don’t leave even a shred."

Esther sprang to her feet, ignoring the pain caused by the kick, and ran for the door, but the boy had already closed it behind him. A metallic click pointed out that he had locked it.

"However I must admit that I love girls full of fighting spirit like you, Esther," the boy commented, his voice muffled. "If you had been just a little more dumb, I would have left you alive."

Esther turned to face the fat man named Gluttony, who was slowly advancing towards her.

"Tender… meat..." murmured this one, showing his teeth, an inhuman smile on his face.

The girl screamed in terror, as the man charged on her. In that instant, the ceiling collapsed, and a large stone fragment struck Gluttony’s bald head, knocking him out cold.

Alphonse Elric reached out to Esther.

"It’s dangerous here," he said calmly, as if falling from the ceiling above a monstrous man was something ordinary. "Let's go."

After a moment of hesitation, Esther grabbed Alphonse’s hand firmly.

-

Dietrich walked down the church corridor whistling, when he heard footsteps approaching from behind the next corner.

Father Anderson turned the corner, crossing briefly ways with an anonymous cleric with light hair whom paid no attention to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oriel Eckhart is an original name, but she is NOT an original character, though for now her "canon" identity will only be hinted at and kept, for now, in the dark, so her character won't appear in the tags.
> 
> Oriel Eckhart NON è un personaggio originale, ma la sua identità e nome "canon" sono solo suggeriti e tenuti, per ora, all'oscuro dei lettori volontariamente, quindi il suo personaggio non apparirà nei tag. Per ora.


	4. The City of Heresy

## Chapter 4 - The City of Heresy

 _Thou shalt not take God’s name,_  
shan’t take it in vain.   
With a knife in my side   
I cried out my dolor and his name:   
but maybe he was tired, maybe too busy   
and didn’t listen to my pain,   
but maybe he was tired, maybe too far away   
really, I called him in vain.   
**Fabrizio De André - ‘Tito’s Will'**

A few hours earlier...

"Liar!" A voice cried. The crowd split in two to let Esther trough. "The alchemists are the unbelievers who seek to rise above God, but they are bound to fall!"

"Are those your words or Father Anderson’s?" Asked Ed.

"My words just tell the truth: no alchemist will ever be able to match the power of God. This is demonstrated by the fact that my Dietrich came back to me."

From the roof of a building just above the crossroads, Oriel and Alphonse watched over Edward, dealing with the citizens of Istvàn, with a perfect but silent replica of Al’s armour by his side.

"I wasn’t expecting Esther to appear" Oriel whispered. At that moment, discretion was crucially important.

"Me neither. However, everything is going according to plan, isn’t it? " Alphonse said, still softly.

Just then, the earth shook, and the statues of moving trees appeared.

Oriel glared at Alphonse.

"Please, next time, don’t say anything..."

If he could do it, the suit of armor would have blushed.

"But that can’t be alchemy... Is it magic?" Al changed the subject, pointing to the statue-plant. "I heard that some Travelers can use it."

Oriel shook his head, and Al noticed that the girl's face was painted with an enthusiastic smile.

"That’s organic alchemy. It's the reason why I wanted to come to Istvàn on the first place. "

"Organic Alchemy? But of course... "Alphonse muttered. "As the one you use to perform human transmutation..."

"And speaking of human transmutation," Oriel said shooting a glance at the boy in armor. "Is what Edward said earlier true?"

Alphonse didn’t know how to react. "Mh." He just said with a small movement of his head. Oriel stared at his friend for a few seconds.

Just then, the statue-plant destroyed the fake Al with a simple gesture, and Alphonse could not help but wince. The other hand clutched Ed.

"Ah, brother!" Exclaimed Alphonse, concerned, while the statue-plant took the boy away. "We have to help him!"

"I guess we will have to split up again..." Oriel chewed on her lower lip. "This I had not expected..."

The crowd dispersed. Oriel and Alphonse waited a few more minutes to make sure that no one could see them. When they got up, intending to get off the roof, though, a figure appeared in the now deserted square, forcing them to crouch again: it was Father Anderson. The man closely examined the destroyed copy of Al’s armor and, apparently satisfied, he left the square in silence. When the priest had gone away, Oriel finally stood up and stirred.

"We need all the help they can get," the girl said. "And we must free Edward. We may combine the two... "

"How?"

Oriel grinned mischievously.

"I have got half of an idea..."

-

Now

"I thought you had... you had..." Esther could not complete the sentence, as she ran out of the building with Alphonse.

"That was what we wanted everyone to believe," Al explained without stopping. "The one that the statue destroyed was nothing more than a copy Ed created with alchemy. This way, I was free to act overnight. I'll show you the results. "

He and Esther climbed the bell tower, where Al had placed a speaker transmuted from a bell. He linked it to some wires that Oriel had provided him, then he turned it on.

"What are you going to do with me?" Edward's voice, amplified by the bell, rang out throughout the city.

"But that is your brother!" Exclaimed Esther.

"Simply making you disappear now would raise doubt in the Istvàn people: they are still immature, weak, ignorant, they need something to enkindle their faith. Only this way they can be saved. "

"And this... is Father Anderson!" Esther recognized the voice.

"This speaker is connected to the cell where brother is detained" Alphonse explained.

-

Edward had been locked in a cell and had both hands chained over his head, so that he could neither move nor use alchemy.

"May I ask why are you so against the military?" Edward asked, staring into the priest's eyes.

The man, completely unaware of the fact that the whole town was listening, looked at him coldly.

"You bastards, especially you State Alchemists, take away precious servants from the Church. These idiots will follow you, amazed by your superhuman abilities: a simple mind might begin to think that the power of an alchemist is similar to that of God. And you, with the promise of base money, buy the faith of others. Dagger and poison, thirty pieces of silver and a rough rope! "His eyes flashed with anger. "You declare to be at the service of the population, while in reality only exercise power and violence. Don’t you think I know that? It is only thanks to me that the Istvàn people were not reduced as the Ishbal infidels. "

Edward narrowed his eyes.

"Are you in favor of policies against Ishbal?"

"Violence against a people is never justified, but the arrogance of Ishbalians in naming God was rightly punished," the man replied. "If the people suffered, that’s also for His will."

"Doesn’t all this seem a little hypocritical to you? You complain about the power of the army, but you self-proclaimed yourself leader and guide for these people and pretend to control them through your religion! "

"You're wrong!" Anderson cried, raising his voice and towering menacingly over the boy. "This role, this power, they have been legitimately assigned by an Emissary of God!"

"An Emissary of God, eh?" Ed muttered, lowering his arm to grab a piece of bread from the tray he had been brought for breakfast. "Interesting... Are you absolutely certain that they are not an impostor?" He wondered, biting into the loaf.

Anderson didn’t appear fazed by this question.

"I will not deny that I’ve thought about it, especially at the beginning, when I was full of doubts: why was I chosen, why did the Emissary sent me to an insignificant town as Istvàn, why could the power they had given me only manifest through this ring? "he said, raising his hand, on which glittered the ring with a red stone. "But God's ways are infinite, and as long as the Istvàn people will think that they have an all-powerful God who raises the dead watching over them, they will not be frightened by nothing but the eternal agony of their immortal soul, and I will show them the way to salvation. Because salvation is in the one, true God, and... " Father Anderson fell silent: finally he realized that Edward was free from the chains and was munching his breakfast. "What the..."

"Why did you stop? It was getting interesting!" The boy grinned. "And I guess all the people you have called 'weak' and 'ignorant' and living in one, according to you, 'insignificant town' think so as well..."

With a sly smile, Ed stepped aside to show the man the hole in the wall inside which sat the microphone connected to the bell-speaker, that he had kept hidden for the whole time sitting in front of it.

Anderson growled, and transmuted bayonets from the dust on the floor, with which he attacked Edward. With one of them he severed the microphone cable, but it was too late: all the inhabitants of Istvàn had heard his words. Edward dodged to avoid the priest’s bayonets, then clapped his hands and transmuted his automail arm into a blade, with which he parried the second attack on Father Anderson. The two exchanged several shots without anyone of them prevailing. The priest, however, was much older than the alchemist, and after several minutes of confrontation, seeing himself in trouble, he could not help but flee. He passed sister Heinkel and other clerics, confused and frightened, but he ignored them and ran out of the church. Arrived in the square, he was forced to stop: all Istvàn crowded outside the building shaking their fists and shouting. In the crowd there was also Oriel, again posing as a nun and with big round glasses.

"Father Anderson, do you really think what you said of your faithful loved ones?" she cried in an emotional tone. She had returned to play the role of Sister Yumiko. "How can you be so cruel?"

The crowd shouted and advanced towards the priest, and Oriel-Yumiko was swallowed up by the flow of people that was pouring in the churchyard. Seeing himself surrounded, Anderson was unable to maintain his self-control.

"You are nothing! You are ashes! You are dust!" He yelled at the crowd. "It is only by God's grace that I decided to stay in this city to protect you, you that share with the Ishbalian infidels your skin color! Thank God's mercy and fear his wrath! "

With a wave of his hand and a flash of the ring, he made the trees that surrounded the square grow, to the point that the stones of the floor burst under the pressure of the roots. Brambles sharp as steel chased Edward, who had followed the priest up to the church square. The alchemist cut them mercilessly with the blade on his right arm.

"I’m really fed up with your blusters, old man" the boy growled. "Now enjoy my show!"

He clapped his hands and placed them on the ground. Behind him a roar was heard, and the enormous statue that sat on the throne behind the altar of the church stood up and, breaking through the roof of the building and part of the wall, he came out on the square.

Alphonse watched the scene complacently from bell tower. Esther was beside him. The girl was crying silently, sharing with her fellow citizens the feeling of fear and disgust that had caught them when Father Anderson was revealed as a religious fanatic that he considered them scum.

"Anderson will never be able to move such a large object," the armor said. "My brother is, because he’s a genius."

The statue of God lowered his arm and pinned Father Anderson the ground. The priest grabbed the statue’s hand to destroy it and free himself, but when he used the power of the ring with the red stone, this instead transmuted his arm into a hideous pile of flesh and stone. The man cried out in pain and shock, and clutched his arm to his chest. Ed ran up to him and grabbed his hand to better observe the ring. Its light faded, then the red stone cracked and broke.

"But what..." he stammered, shocked. "This is not the Philosopher's Stone!" Soon the astonishment turned into anger. "We have done this much ruckus... and we lost all this time... for a  _phony_?!" He shouted.

Anger soon left the place to depression. In silence, the boy turned and walked away from the churchyard. The crowd parted as he passed. He passed Oriel, who walked beside him.

"I'm sorry that was not the real Stone, Ed," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But look at the bright side: you freed the city from a fanatic megalomaniac!" Edward ignored her words, and she knew there was nothing more to say.

At the outskirts of the city, Alphonse and Esther catched up to them. The girl’s face was streaked with tears, but she wore a resolute and angry expression.

"Why have you done this to us?!" he attacked them the girl. "Father Anderson’s miracles represented our only hope!"

"Are you saying it would have been better to leave everything as it was?" Ed replied, gravely.

Esther pretended not to hear him.

"Now what will I do? What will be my reason for life from this point onwards? Come on, tell me!" She cried, looking at them one at a time.

Ed stared at her for a moment, then he turned away.

"You have to discover it on your own," he said without looking at her. "Get up and walk. If nothing else, you still have both your true legs..."

That said, he started walking, heading for his  next destination. After a few seconds, Oriel followed him, and then Al, while Esther slumped to the ground in tears.

-

Sister Heinkel had appeared at the right time and had helped Father Anderson escape the lynching, dragging him with her inside the church, blocking the doors and bringing him into his private room, where someone was already waiting for them.

"Emissary of God, why have you lied to me?" Father Anderson asked the angel with dark hair and violet eyes. "That object contained no divine power, but filthy alchemy! I believed I was been chosen to become an instrument of God! "

Sister Heinkel stood at the door, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Of course it was alchemy" the emissary said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "To be precise, it was an incomplete Philosopher's Stone. This town was nothing more than a simple bait to attract those interested in that object... "

"What ?!" shouted Anderson.

From the shadows the fat and bald man who had tried to eat Esther appeared.

"Lust, you say, now can I eat him, the man?" He asked with foaming at the mouth.

"What is this creature?" Anderson asked, stepping back. "Why did it call you Lust?"

The woman smiled.

"Because it is my name."

She unbuttoned her white gown neck and Anderson realized with horror that ~~on~~ the woman's chest ~~it~~ was tattooed with a little red snake biting its tail.

"You... are not an angel... you're a demon!" He shouted.

"So, Lust?" interjected the fat man. "Can I eat him?" He pulled out his tongue, and Anderson saw that on it there was the same snake tattoo.

The woman’s smile became cruel. Behind him, Sister Heinkel laughed, as her eyes behind sunglasses, were tinged with purple. Father Anderson turned to her, shocked.

"Sister Heinkel..." he murmured. "You too..."

"Sorry, Father, but if you had paid more attention you would have realized that there were  _two_  Sister Heinkels out of the churchyard."

"You are... demons!" Father Anderson cried in anguish.

The Emissary of God made a gesture with her hand.

"Eat him, Gluttony."

-

The rest of priests and clergymen of the Istvàn Church had gathered around the altar of the church, as confused as the people of Istvàn by the recent events. Sister Heinkel had tried to calm the crowd, but in vain, and had had to fall back in turn inside the church. Suddenly, Father Anderson appeared from behind the apse, frowning and with the injured arm bandaged.

"Father! Please, tell us what to do? People are out of control! " Sister Heinkel exclaimed as soon as she saw him.

The man took a deep breath before speaking.

"Open the gates I'll talk to them," he ordered. The priests obeyed and helped the injured man to climb the pulpit, while the angry and confused people poured into the nave. "Istvàn people, I owe you an apology." Anderson spoke into the microphone as he saw that the church was beginning to fill up: his voice resounded throughout the building and outside. "I have committed the sin of arrogance, I let the anger of my past take over and I used the power of God for my purposes and aims, instead of using it to spread His word and help you... and consequently, I lost it, "he regretfully told. "I'm but a man," he sighed, slowly climbing down the steps of the pulpit to walk through the crowd. "And now I can only come down to your level to ask you to help me walk a purer way. Please, accompany me on a revolution of our church, a church that’ll serve the people, a church where all are truly equal and no one is discriminated against because of his sex, his level of culture, or the color of his skin. "

The crowd looked around, no one knew how to answer, the man looked really regretful. A little girl came forward and grabbed the man's hand, who smiled warmly, picking her up and lifting her off the ground. The little one gave out a small cry of joy, and Father Anderson gently stroked her head. The spontaneous gesture of the man warmed the hearts of those present, who approached Anderson with more confidence.

From one of the upper arches, along with the fat man who was still finishing to devour the priest's arm, the woman called Lust was watching the scene.

"I'm sorry Envy, but apparently you’ll have to keep that role for some time..." she said flatly.

As if he heard her, 'Anderson' looked up and smiled.


End file.
